Clutch



y 1931. R. c. BERRY 1,816,808

CLUTCH Filed June 4, 195Q 2 Sheets-Sheet l gwuanto'c POBEQTC.BERQZ,

July 28, 1931.

R. c. BERRY CLUTCH Filed June 4,. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July28, 1931 CLUTCH Application filed June 4,

My invention is concerned with mechanical clutches of the type whichtransmit from a driving element to a driven element a torque vhich isgenerally proportional to the speed of the driving element and also tothe ditference in speed between the driving and driven element. A clutchof this general type is shown in myco-pending application Serial No.259,974, filed March 8, 1928. The clutch of the present application,however, differs from myjprior application in several respects, thenature of which will become apparent hereinafter.

The accompanying drawings illustrate. em-

bodiments of myinvention: l is a longitudinal section through oneform'of clutch on the linel1 of Fig. 2, showing the clutch inassociation with reverse gearingpFig. 2 is a transverse. section on the.line 22 of Fig. 1

' showing parts of the clutch in end elevation; 3 te fragmental planview illustrating details of construct-ion ot'the clutch-controlmechanism and Fig. lis a fragmental longitudinal section similar to Fig.1, but showa modified form of the invention.

In the construction illustrated in Fig. 1, my

clutch and its associated mechanism is em-' ployedto interconnect asource of power, such as a crankshaft 10 of an internal combustionengine, with a power-transmitting shaft 11.

The clutch, proper comprises driving element in the form of a casing 12which is connected to the source of power, for rotation therewith. Thedriven element is in the form '35" ofa crank-shaft 13 which extends"into the.

casing'l2 coaxially therewith and. isrotatable relatively thereto. Atannular spaced points 'ithin the casing 12 there are. pivotally mountedoscillatable shoes 1-5; As shown,

' 40. there are four of such shoes, but the exact.

ployed forretaining each shoe in place on its,

- associated trunnion'piece.

At-eeeentnc pO111tS,tl19 shoes are connected :2. to, the crank-shaft13in each a manner tiat.

1930. Serial no. 459,1S8.

siren s'rA'res rarer oer-ice IGNOE OF ONE-FOURTH To LIS, INDIANArelative rotation of the crank shaft and casmg 12 Wlll cause the shoesto oscillate. This is conveniently accomplished by connecting rods 18.

As shown, the crank shaft 13 hasv two diametrically opposite cranks eachof which supports the end of two connecting. rods 18, the outer ends ofwhich are respecs tively connected to eccentric points'on adjacent shoes15. This precisev arrangement.

however, is not essential to my invention.

The outer surrace of each of the shoes 15 is generally semicircular incontour, and is provided with a series of grooves lying respectively inplanes perpendicular to the clutch axis. Adjacent each shoe, theinterior cir ted shoe, 15, as is clear'from Figfl.

Each ofthe shoes 15 is not connected rigidly with its associated,trunnion piece 16 but is so mounted as to have a somewhat limitedsliding movement radiallyof the trunnion axis in order that centrifugalforce created by rotation of the casing 12 will tend to force the shoes15 outwardly to cause frictional contact between the interengaging wallsof the grooves on the shoe and casing.

From the construction described, it will be apparent that relativerotation of'the casing 12 and crank-shaft 13 will be accompanied byoscillation of tive axes of pivotal m 12, This oscill the the shoes 15about their respecounting in the casing :ation is of course opposed by'inertia of the shoes and by t-llBfI'lCtlOIl existnie' between theinterengaging faces of the shoe and easing grooves. The greater therelative speed of rotation between the crankshaft and casing, thegreater will be the ina ertia forces opposing such relative rotation.Further, the greater the speed of. rotation of the casing 12, thegreater will be the centrifugal force acting on the shoes 15; and thegreater this centrifugal force, the greater will be the frictionopposing oscillation of the shoes.

driven ele'nent 1-3 ofthe clutch pro directly connected to ti I an isnot entire-nominee :2;

of which are provided with co-operating clutch teeth. 7

For the purpose of connecting the internediate shaft to thepower-transmittingv shaft 11 either directly or through reverse gearing,i may mount 1' F on the end of he shaft 25 a pinion w rich meshes with aplurality of planetary 29 rotatably mounted on individual axes insupport 30 that in turn is rotatal le able along the shaft 25. inllfiutlOll to meshing with the central pinion 23 on the shaft 25, theplanetary gears 29 also mesh with an internal gear 31 rotatable *ith theshaft 11.

The periphery of the support 3) is provided with a series of teethadapted to engage the teeth of the internal gear 31 when the support 30is in the position illustrated in Fig. 1. lnte ral or rigid with thesupport 30 is an axially extending hub the end face of which is providedwith a series o jaw-clutch teetl 34 adapted to mesh with correspondinseries of stationary teeth 3 conveniently provided on a partition 36 ina casing 37 that incloses the whole mechanism. lVith the support 30 andits associated hub 33 in the position illustrated in Fig. 1, theintermediate shaft 25 is directly connected to the power-transmittingshaft 11; for the interengagement of the teeth'at the periphery of thesupport 30 with the teeth of the internal gear 31 prevents relativerotation of such member, thus locking the planet 29 to the internal gear31 and in turn to the pinion 23 which is rigid with the shaft 25. l/Vhenthe support 39 and its associated hub 33 are moved to the left from theposition shown in 1, the teeth at the periphery of the support 30 moveout of en agement with the \D gear 31, and the clutch teeth 34 on thehub 33 age the stationary teeth to prevent roc V the pinz-on and theinternal gear 31 are of sch a width 2 the planet gears 29 rer n inengagem-ei. .Jith them during this l movement of the planet-gear support30; and as a result, rotation of the shaft 25 will cause rotation of the11 in the reverse directionand at a reduced speed.

in order to effect the axial movement of the planot gear ct r 30 and thepositiveclutch member tiveiy provided withannular grooves for the Treception of shifter forks 40 and 41, these on. and axially slidtheplanet-gsar-support 30. Both these members may be respec shifter forksbeing in turn respectively mounted upon longitudinally slidable shifterrods 42 and 43. (See Figsl and 3.) The shifter rods 42 and 43 lieadjacent and parallel to each other and are provided with cam slotsadapted to receive a pin 44 eccentrically supported on a pivotallymounted control lever 45. V 7

As indicated in Fig. 1, the control lever 45 is in its central position,and the pin 44 lies near the center of each of the cam slots in theshifter rods 42 and 43. The clutch member 26 on the shaft 13 is inengagement with the clutch member 2? on the intermediate shaft 25, andthe planet-gear carrier 30 is in engagement with the internal gear 31 onthe power-transmitting shaft 11. The cam slots in the shifter rods 42and 43 are so shaped that movement of the control lever 45 in onedirection will cause movement of one shifter rod and movement ofthecontrol lever in the opposite direction will cause movement of the othershift-er rod. In the particular construction shown, movement of theupper end of the control lever 45 to the left, through the action of thecam slot in the shifter rod 43, will move such shifter rod to the leftand disengage the clutch member 26 from the clutch member 27. Duringthis movement of the control lever 45, the pin 44 rides in a portion ofthe cam slot in the shifter rod 42 which is concentric to the aXis aboutwhich the pin 44 is swinging, so that no movement of the shifter rod 42results, and the planetgear carrier 30 remains in engagement with theinternal 01. Movement of the control lever 45 to the right from thecentral position shown in Fig. 1 will cause the shifter rod 42 to bemoved to the left to disconnect the planet-gear carrier from theinternal gear 31 and to connect it to the stationary partition 36.During this'mo'vement of the control lever 45, the pin 44rides in aportion of the slot in the shifter rod 43 which is concentric to theaxis of pivotal mounting of the lever 45, and no movement of the shifterrod 43 results.

In my prior application abovereferred to, instead of employing rigidcranks on the driven element of the clutch, I provided adjustableeccentrics, the centers of which could be brought into coincidence withthe axis of the clutch in order to eliminate any tendency of the drivingmember to drive the power transmitting shaft 11-the lever l5 will bemoved to the left from the central position illustrated in Fig. 1; andwhen the lever is so moved thepositive clutch member 26 will be out ofengagement with its associated clutch. member 27, and the crank-shaft 13can therefore rotate freely relative to the intermediate shaft 25. Therate at which the shaft 13 rotates will depend upon the frictionopposing its rotation. If the friction opposing its rotation isnegligible, it will rotate at substantially the same speed as does thecrank-shaft of the engine, and there will be substantially nooscillation of the shoes 15. By depressing the brake pedal 52, however.a

frictional drag is imposed on the clutchshaft 13, which frictional dragtends to decrease the rate at which the shaft 10 rc s, thus creating orincreasing the rate of tive rotation of the clutch shaft and clutchcasing 12. This increase in the rate of relative" rotation of the casingand clutch shaft creates an increase at which the shoes 0scillate, andthe effect of the inertia and frietion opposing oscillation of suchshoes tends to oppose relative rotation of the shaft 13 and casing 12.If the braking effort created by depressing the brake pedal 52 is ofsufficient extent, however, the shaft 13 can be stopped completely. Thiswill enable the clutch members 26 and 27 to be brought into engagementwithout clashing.

After the clutch members 26 and 27 have been engaged, by moving thelever from its left-hand position to the central position illustrated inthe drawing, and after releasing the brake pedal 52, the extent to whichrotation of the clu ch shaft 13 is opposed will depend upon theopposition to rotation poss'essed by the power-transmitting shaft 11.

If the shaft 11 possesses substantially no opposition to rotation, itwill rotate at approximately the same rate of speed as does thecrank-shaft 10 of the engine. If the opposition of the shaft 11 torotation increases,

? then its speed will. decrease, with the result that the relative rateof rotation between the shaft 13 and casing 12 will be increased. Thisin turn will increase the rate at whiclithe shoes 15 oscillate: and theeffect of the inertia of the shoes 15 and of frictional drag between theshoes and the casing 12 will oppose relative rotation of the crankshaft10 and power-transmitting shaft 11.

Should the. rotational speed of thecranl:

shaft 1O be increased, the increase in the c trifugal force acting onthe shoes 15 will cause an increase in the frictional drag between suchshoes and the casing; and this, in turn, will increase the rate at whichthe shaft 11 rotates, if the torque opposing its rotation has not beencorrespondingly increased.

As has been previously stated, the torque transmitted to the drivenelement 13 of the clutch proper is dependent to an extent upon therotational speed of the casing 12 owing to the fact that rotationalspeed of the casing 12 determines the centrifugal force acting on theshoes 15 and thereby controls the friction between such shoes and thecasing 12. If the rotational speed of the casing 12 cannot be reducedbeyond a point where torque transmitted to the driven clutch element 13makes it impracticable to prevent rotation of such driven element bymeans of a brake, as in the construction illustrated inFi g. 1., itbecomes advisable to provide some means for moving the shoes 15 inwardlyout of contact with the casing 12 in order to decrease the torquetransmitted to the driven element 13. Such means is illustrated in Fig.4.

In the construction illustrated in Fig. 4-, each of the shoes 15 isradially slidable upon its associated trunnion piece 16. Axiallyslidable in each of the trunnion pieces 16 is an actuatin member byaxial movement of which the associated shoe 15 may be either movedinwardly out of engagement with the casing 12, forced outwardly intofirm frictional engagement with the casing 12, or permitted to float insuch a manner that the force with which it bears against the casing 12depends upon the centrifugal force resulting from rotation of thecasing.

To this end, each of the actuating rods 60 is shown as provided in itsouter face with a pair of cam grooves 61 and on its inner face with apair of cam projections 62. Hadially slidable in the trunnion piece 16are two pairs of pins 63 and 6- The inner ends of the pins 63 exendrespectively into the cam grooves 61, and their outer ends bear againstthe shoe 15. The outer ends of the pins 64: bear against the camprojection 62, and their inner ends bear against the cap 17. which isrigid with the shoe.

With the construction described, it w'll be apparent that the shoe 15can be moved inwardly or outwardly on its associated trunnion piece 16by longitudinal movement of the actuating member 60. As shown in 4, thepins 64 are in engagement with the highest part of the cam-projections62, and the shoes are therefore retracted from engagement with thecircumferential wall of the casing 12. If the actuating rod 60 is movedto the left from the position illustrated in Fig. l, the shoes 15 willbe permitted to move radially outward under the influence of thecentrifugal force to which they are subjected as a result of the rot.tion of the casing 12.

If leftward movement of the actuating rod 7 60 is continued until thepins 63-are engaged .by the sloping ends of the grooves 61, the shoes 15will be forced outwardly by the camming action of the end-walls of thegrooves, and the outwardly exerted force thus imposed on the shoe 15 isadded to the effective centrifugal' force to increase the frictionbetween such shoe and the casing 12.

Desirably, the cam grooves 61 are longer than the cam projections 62 inorder to provide,'between the limits of movement ofthe actuating rod 60,a condition in which the shoe 15 floats in such a manner that thefriction between it and the casing 12 is dependent only upon the speedwith which the casing rotates. V

For the purpose of moving the actuating rods 60, each of them may beprovided with a grooved head 66, the groove of which receives theintermediate portion of an operating lever 67. The outer ends of theoperating lever 67 are pivotally mounted as at .68

I on the casing 12, near the periphorythereof;

and the inner ends of such rods extend into an annular groove on ashiftable collar 69 which is adapted to be moved axially of the shaft 13by any convenient operating mechanism.

When the actuating rods 60 in the clutch illustrated in Fig. 4 are intheir intermediate position of adjustment, the clutch acts insubstantially the same manner as does the clutch illustrated in Figs. 1and 2. That is, the proportion of the driving torque transmitted to thedriven clutch element 13 is proportional to the rate at which the casing12 rotates and to the rate of relative rotation of the casing 12 and thedriven element 13., If it is desired to increase the torque transmittedto the driven element 13, the control collar 69 can be moved to the leftto cause the sloping endwalls ofthe cam grooves 61 to force the shoes 15outwardly into firmer frictional contact with the casing 12. If it isdesired to decrease the torque transmitted to the driven element 13 thecontrol collar 69 may be moved 7 to the rightthat is, to or toward theposition illustrated in Fig. .t-and this will result in decreasing thefrictional drag imposed on the shoes 15 and will thereby decreaseopposition to their oscillation. V

I claim as my invention 1. In combination, two relatively rotatablecoaxial members, one or more cranks carried by one of said members, oneor more friction elements pivotally mounted in the 7 other of saidrotatable members and having frictional engagement therewith, and meansoperatively interconnecting said friction elements and said cranks toproduce oscillation of said friction elements about their respectiveaxes when said two rotatable members rotate relatively to each other;

2. in combination, relatively rotatable driving and driven members, oneor more cranks carried by said driven member, one or more frictionelements pivotally mounted in said driving member and having frictionalcontact therewith, and means operatively interconnecting said cranks andfriction elements to produce oscillation of said friction elements abouttheir respective axes driving and driven members, one or more frictionelements pivotally mounted in said driving member and having frictionalcon tact therewith, and means operatively interconnecting said drivenmember and friction element to produce oscillation of said frictlonelements about the1r respective axes when said driving and drivenmembers rotate relatively to each other.

5. The combination set forth in claim 3 with the addition that saidfriction elements are floatingly mounted in order that the force withwhich they bear against the rotatable member in which they are mountedmay be dependent upon centrifugal force created by rotation of suchrotatable member. V

6. The combination set forth in claim 4 with the addition that saidfriction elements are floatingly mounted in said driving member in,order that the force with which. they bear upon said driving member maybe dependent upon centrifugal force created by rotation of the drivingmember.

7. In combination, relatively rotatable driving and driven members, oneor more friction elements movably carried by said driving member andhaving frictional contact therewith, means operatively interconnectingsaid friction elements and said driven member to produce movement ofsaid friction members in said driving member when said driving anddrivenmembers rotate relatively to each other, apower-transmittingelement adapted to receive power from said driven member, releasablemeans for interconnecting said driven member, and power-transmittingelement, and brake means associated with said driven member.

8. In combination, relatively rotatable driving and driven members, oneor more inertia elements movably carried by said driving member, meansopera'tively interconnecting said inertia elements and said drivenmember to produce oscillation of said inertia members in said drivingmember when said driving and driven members rotate relatively to eachother, a power-transmitting element adapted to receive power from saiddriven member, releasable means for interconnecting said driven memberand power-transmitting element, and brake means associated with saiddriven member.

9. The combination set forth in claim 3 with the addition of means formoving said friction element out of frictional engagement with themembers in which they are mounted.

10. The combination set forth in claim 4 with the addition of means formoving said friction element out of frictional engagement with saiddriving member.

11. The combination set forth in claim 3 with the addition of means forpositively forcing said friction elements into firm frictionalengagement with the members in which they are mounted.

12. The combination set forth in claim 4 with the addition of means forpositively forcing said friction elements into firm frictionalengagement with said driving member.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis,Indiana, this 2d day of June, A. D. one thousand nine hundred andthirty.

ROBERT C. BERRY.

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